Ship Sailing in the Sunset
by AnnaAza
Summary: Zutara Week 2011 has sailed into the harbor! Mask, History, Social Networking, Secret, Awkward, Legendary, and Caught are its cargo!
1. Chapter 1 Mask

**WELCOME TO ZUTARA WEEK! Wow, this is my second Zutara Week, and I cannot wait! I already see the Fanfiction loading up, and I have no doubt that this will be a hectic week again! I'm almost tempted to play sick and read all of these wondenful stories! But, alas, duty calls.**

**This chapter was awful to write. I tried a Crossover fic, a masquerade, a Blue Sprit remake...until I came up with this at the last minute, inspired by Green Day's "Wake Me up When September Ends." (Obviously, the deadline is changed for this) Enjoy!**

**ZUTARA WEEK 2011**

**DAY ONE: MASK**

"Summer is going to be over fast." Zuko finally said to the Water Tribe Ambassador. "You need to make your decision in two days."

Katara sighed. They were standing on Zuko's balcony, looking at the sun setting below the ocean over the Capital City. She had changed out of her official blue robes and was wearing her summer red dress, one that Zuko had bought her for a present. Zuko himself was still in Fire Lord regalia, and she felt as small like a child comparing himself to his tall, looming father. Despite this, he gently laid a hand on hers, which was clutching the balcony in thought, and whispered, "This will be your last summer with me, I fear, if you go back."

"Why?" she asked. "I am still the Southern Water Tribe's Ambassador, right? Are you threatening my job if I leave?" Katara's tone was now as icy as the frozen walls and icicles she creates.

"What? No," he assured her. "But I hear Aang is going to ask for your hand when you go home. He already asked your father, and Hakoda has approved. And if you marry him, you might be too busy—"

"Aang?" Katara interrupted him. She looked paler than ever. In the Water Tribes, it was a woman's duty by age eighteen to settle down and marry. Katara was nineteen, an almost taboo in her culture, and men and women alike were trying to cohere her into accepting a betrothal necklace. Nothing was wrong with marrying, necessarily. But she was thinking of only one necklace she hadn't accepted, a rectangle of imperial red jade carved with a koi fish that Zuko had given her the day she arrived this year. It was lying in her desk drawer, where she took it out at night and smoothed her fingers over the painstakingly hard work carved into the precious stone.

"Yes, Aang. The one you spend the rest of spring, fall, and winter with? The one we've been lying to since the war ended? Yes, that Aang."

Zuko's attempt at humor, or perhaps it was pent up anger, fall flat. Katara's face concealed a reeling distress imagining Aang proposing, then having to decline and tell the truth about the "monkey business," as Toph called it, behind his back. She could imagine several different scenarios: him running away, him unleashing the Avatar State and destroying the village, or him forgiving her but her home ostracizing her. Adultery and cheating were a huge no-no in the Water Tribes, and she remembered her father banishing a man two months out on the ice for cheating on his wife and impregnating his mistresses back in the Earth Kingdom. She shuddered at one of her nightmare memories of the village together turning their backs to her, and Gran Gran banishing her from her home.

"Katara, please don't cry," Zuko stroked her cheek. "Please, I'm sorry."

"It's not your fault. It's mine. I wish we hadn't lied at all, Zuko. But your Council doesn't even want to hear about cross-cultural marriages, and the world is still healing."

"Is that a no, then? Are you saying goodbye?" His face retreated back into what Katara called his "turtleduck shell," where his face was wiped clean of all emotions and tucked under a mask of indifference. She hated it when he made this face, which was frequent at Court so he wouldn't lose his temper, especially when it involved her. She could never tell what he was thinking when this mask was lifted, but now she could guess. Zuko was hiding anguish that she might not return to the Fire Nation. The Avatar's wife, especially with nomadic Aang, had to stay beside him or her at all times. If she became Aang's wife, Zuko would have to find a new Water Tribe Ambassador. She and Aang could always part separate ways for summer, but this was not an option, and the Fire Nation loved rumors. Now, they were suspecting and whispering about a story greater than "The Tale of Oma and Shu," which was not appreciated.

"No, not..." her voice trailed off before she said "yet," but Zuko saw it in her lips and face. He turned away from her.

"Shall we do our patrols tonight, Painted Lady?" he asked cooly, and she held back a sigh as he walked away from her to dig through his trunk for his mask.

* * *

><p>The nightly patrols were their secret and their escape. They were masked and disguised, together bringing justice and help to those who needed them. They were a popular legend in the Fire Nation, The Painted Lady and The Blue Spirit working together to fulfill Fire Lord Zuko's dream. They were never seen apart, and the lucky souls who did see them in action always said that they fitted together exactly like two pieces of the same puzzle and spinning around each other in an endless dance. The Painted Lady was always graceful and quick when dealing with opponents, unleashing the fury of the tides and the fog. However, she was said to be as gentle as a newborn lamb-kitten when healing with the Blue Spirit at her back protecting her. The Blue Spirit was elusive and deadly, dealing out vengeance with his two trademark broadswords that flashed in the moonlight. It was said, too, that he guarded the Painted Lady with his life and never allowed himself or her to be touched in a fight.<p>

As if the world knew that they needed a distraction, they sped off to rescue a lady from being robbed by a gang of thieves, heal some sick houses, take down vigilantes, help children from being run over by a drunk driver of a carriage, aid a man who fell down from a window and broke his leg, stop an enemy rebel ship that was passing through the harbor...

The Blue Spirit admired his Painted Lady, the way she twisted and turned in a fast but alluring dance for him, and how she fluidly spun the ocean water into a crested wave to meet the rebel ship. The ice spread quickly under her power aligned with the full moon, and soon, the Fire Nation patrol ships caught it with harpoons and a yell of "Thank you, Painted Lady!" A smile graced the woman's lips at this, and the Blue Spirit paused to crush those lips against his.

"Look down at this city, love." he told her after they parted and as the sun rose. "This can all be yours if you stay here."

"I cannot be bribed" was her reply.

"I can offer you anything. Ask for jewels, and I will mine them personally for you. Ask for silks, and I'll feed he silkworms and weave the thread for you. Ask for ships, and I will built them one by one for you. Ask for the city, and I will crown you as my queen. Ask for the sun, and I'll fight Agni himself to make him give you it. Ask..." His voice softened at the tears gleaming in his goddess's eyes. "for my love, and I will give you my heart."

"Oh, Zuko," she breathed and kissed him with all her heart.

* * *

><p>"You are cruel, Painted Lady." he hissed.<p>

"I must leave. My ship will be departing in an hour."

"I thought you chose me, Katara."

"I want to, with all I am, but—"

"You are too self sacrificing for your own good, Katara." Zuko thrust her carry on at her arms and turned away, all of his pain being swiped away in an instant. It was replaced by anger, another mask that was donned when in doubt and in loss. "Just leave. Go marry the Avatar and make the world happy. Leave." He did not add "See that I care," but when she kissed him on the cheek as a goodbye and placed his necklace in his palm, he wished he had.

* * *

><p>Katara wanted to sir down and have a good cry, but she was sitting down at the waiting area and being watched by curious bystanders, she didn't dare until she was shut up in her room on the ship. When the ship finally pulled in, she opened her bag to get her ticket, but brushed against something hard and wooden and carved and smooth. She didn't even have to look down. She knew what it was, what it stood for. Katara traced the familiar features, as familiar as the man who wore this, when the ticket master asked her for her ticket.<p>

"I lost it." she said simply, and she walked away, tossing her blue lined ticket for the South Pole into a cooking fire for the fishermen.


	2. Chapter 2 History

**This chapter was actually easier for me to write, and I got it finished before the first one, in fact. Anyway, read and enjoy!**

**ZUTARA WEEK 2011**

**DAY TWO: HISTORY**

It was a hard burden of being the youngest Fire Lord in history.

Fire Lord Zuko knew that he wasn't the youngest necessarily, but the younger ones usually had a regent that ruled for them until they came of age. It was a system that worked out fine, except for some regents that would not step down, and the matter was resolved in an Agni Kai. He had a choice of choosing a regent, but the only one he could trust that could rule the Fire Nation was Iroh. Unfortunately, Iroh had retired from politics and was only interested in restarting his tea shop. He still stuck around to help Zuko with the ropes and offer advice, but Zuko knew it was only a matter of time before his uncle left for Ba Sing Se.

Meetings occupied half his time and paperwork the other. He ate his meals, if he ate, in his office. He would not go to bed until two in the morning. He would not change out of his robes until the next morning. He rarely went to the bathroom or cared for himself. He, to Mai's annoyance, wouldn't go out. He stayed holed up in his office to tackle his paperwork and arrange treaties and such himself, for his advisors and secretaries that could do it for him were from Ozai and Azulon's time. He did not have time to hire new ones, and that alone would cause an uproar, which was something he did not need.

Zuko resigned himself to working for the rest of his life in his office until Katara came crashing through his gates.

"ZUKO." She snapped after breaking down the door of his office after he refused visits. "You need to relax!"

Zuko made a grunt.

Sighing with annoyance, she opened the blinds to let the sunshine in and opened the window all the way, allowing faint cool breezes into the room.

"There, isn't it less stuffy?" she asked, and Zuko nodded. It did, actually.

She worked like this: making Zuko take his formal robes off into something more comfortable and light, forcing him to eat more and at the dinner table ("How will your subjects know you if you are bunkered down in your office all day?"), fixing Zuko some soothing tea, taking his Fire Lord crown off in his office to make him more relaxed, sparring with him, drawing him a nice warm bath to relax, encouraging him to sleep in his room on a proper cushy bed instead of his desk.

This strategy worked, for each time she asked him, "Isn't this better?", and he had no choice but to agree. All of it worked wonders for him, and Katara even helped him with his work. Mai had left in a disgruntled mood, for Katara was able to get Zuko back to his old self, and she couldn't, no matter how hard she tried.

Over time, their relationship evolved from partners to very close friends. Zuko found himself looking forward to the daily spars with Katara or instantly agreeing to what Katara suggested: feeding the turtleducks, swimming, reading in the library, or unwinding. He enjoyed watching her hair, now pulled up in a ponytail to keep it from getting in the way, swing vigourously as she moved as fast as Zuko during their activities. She helped him appoint new secretaries and advisors one at a time, soothed uprisings, and left Zuko with less work to do. He couldn't get rid of all of his advisors (the complications of politics), but the majority wanted change. Zuko trusted his secretaries to handle the work, but still did most of it himself and looked over the secretaries' work before he put it out to his court.

One day, Katara and Zuko were looking at Zuko's childhood memories in Ursa's and Ozai's rooms. There were baby portraits, drawings Little Zuko had done, or his old work carefully preserved. Zuko was rifling through his pictures he drew for his mom, Lu Ten, or Iroh. Katara had picked up his old history textbook when a few pages fell out of it.

The Waterbender beginned to stuff them back it, but she saw Zuko's clumsy handwriting on "The Water Tribes."

Heart racing, she read the "answers" to the questions posed. Indignation and hurt formed as she scanned the untrue answers about her people. She opened the dusty book and turned to the chapter on Water Tribes. Pictures were depicted of savages eating raw meat, hunting tiger-seals, "primitive" igloos, ragged furs as clothes, and angry warriors charging at Fire Nation soldiers with red paint on their faces. Her heart grew as hot as forged iron as she read the captions and paragraphs: "The Water Tribes do not have a language, but instead talk in grunts and hand signs," "they have no market, but rely on the prey they hunt ruthlessly to survive," "they are an impoverished, poor lot..., and it went on with a chilling notion that the Water Tribes were cruel, savage, stupid, and primitive. It even said that Water Tribe warriors drank the blood of their enemies and used it as war paint! Lies! Lies all of them! She felt angry, so angry that tears came into her eyes.

Zuko saw a change in his friend and touched her shoulder, only for her to whirl around and shove a book in his face. He looked down at the pages when Katara yelled in a furious tone, "Do you see this? Do you see all of this...blasphemy?"

She continued, "Have you yet assigned new textbooks? Children are the future of any nation, Zuko, and if this is what they teach children here, it's no wonder the Fire Nation is so ignorant and arrogant! This book depicts Water Tribe people in the most awful way, and I am afraid to look at what they have done to the other cultures!"

"Katara, I don't believe in this stuff."

"Because you met real people from other nations and learned that the world wasn't what you though it was! If you could just print a new textbook that showed the Fire Nation children on who we other nations really are, the propaganda and the brainwashing could stop!"

"Katara, I do not have the time—" his voice faltered at the blooming rage in his face. It was clearly the wrong answer, and she exploded with a "Well! If you can't bother about helping the world achieve peace, then I guess you are as bad as Ozai!"

Immediately her hand clapped to her mouth at her outburst, but the damage was done. She expected Zuko to fly in a rage, or a the very least, say a firm "no." But she didn't expect a shattered look in Zuko's eyes and a soft "Get out of my palace, Katara."

"Zuko, I didn't mean it! Zuko, please!" she begged, feeling horribly guilty and repentant at once. "Please, Zuko, I'm sorry!"

Her pleas yielded no softening, but he said in a calm voice, "Either you leave freely, or I'll ask the guards to escort you out. Pack your things and go."

She could only stare in stunned silence, and he roughly grabbed her arm.

"I will count to five." he warned in that still-calm voice, but it now showed that he meant business. "One. Two—"

She slowly backed out without turning her back on him. What she didn't see was Zuko later burning all the pictures of Ozai, flaming spurts of fire splash on the papers, and his silent drive towards anger.

After he had cooled down, he realized Katara was right as usual. Progress needed to be made, so he set out to work. Letters from messenger hawks arrived to the Earth Kingdom, Water Tribes, and Avatar Aang, asking for information about their cultures and countries and explaining his plan. His letters were well received, and he went through them all by himself, putting especially useful or insightful information aside to ask the owners for their name to quote them. He asked people to describe battles, false treaties, raids, and the fear of attack from their perspective. He worked day and night with the scribes, book editors, and other collective people who wanted to help to put together a thoroughly researched, accurate portrayal on the lives outside the Fire Nation. Not all of his work had to do with that, but he worked with some Fire Nation citizens on their perspective and such. He helped write about the misdeeds of his ancestors and found it challenging to write about himself, but managed.

It took a few months, but when the book was finished, he sent out notices throughout the Fire Nation that the old history textbooks were assigned for a recall. Zuko made sure himself that very new textbook was delivered to schools and that the old ones were burned or shut away. He visited the schools in person to oversee the distribution and the lessons. He fired a couple of teachers who refused to use the textbook and still clung to their racist and old ways. He talked to some classes himself about the war and his experiences. Finally, he decided to invite Katara back to the Fire Nafion palace.

When Katara did arrive, he pulled her in with a long, hopeful kiss. Before she could react and after much staring from the occupants of the castle, Zuko drew his arm around her shoulders and led her to his office. Katara tried to shrug away subtly, but he only held her tighter and kissed her cheek, which warmed considerably after his lips retreated.

"Don't you have a meeting, Fire Lord?" she inquired, and to her surprise, Zuko shook his head. "Court is cancelled for today."

"Why?"

"Why? Because you're here."

Before she could question this, he opened his office and steered her to his desk, where a thick book lay. When she saw it, all emotions crashed together in two seconds—happiness, sadness, joy, warmth, sadness, astonishment, awe, anger, and remorse. Her fingers tentatively touched the cover and opened the hardcover.

Her mind was whirling and she felt paralyzed as she read the chapter on the Water Tribes. It had accurate delicious of her people, the different ways to show rank, Waterbending and its history, life in both of the poles, hunting, the festivals and dances, the ancient songs and legends, the clothes, the food, the engagement necklaces, everything! Everything...

"Oh, Zuko." she said softly, tears coming to her eyes as she read about Yue and a quote from Arnook. "Zuko, you did this..all of this wonderful work...I'm so sorry, so sorry...I—"

He kissed her again, gently moving down to kiss away her tears. This time, she responded.

* * *

><p>Zuko smiled as he looked at the new textbook. This time, it had Katara down as the first Water Tribe woman in history to serve as Fire Lady. It told about their children, their wedding, their engagement. The Fire Lord grinned at the traditional wedding portrait: himself in his wedding robes beaming at Katara, who was wearing a Water Tribe style of robes but in the colors of his—no, their—nation.<p>

How happy this would make her, he thought as he picked up the book to his wife. Because he had written the new portion himself.


	3. Chapter 3 Social Networking

**WARNING! Very PG-13ish...maybe toeing into the Rated R! YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED.**

**I do not own Facebook, in case Mark Zuckerberg, in some off chance, decides to read Zutara fanfiction and sues me for copyright. **

**ZUTARA WEEK 2011**

**DAY THREE: SOCIAL NETWORKING **

"Damn it, Zuko, get off that Facebook!"

Zuko looked at his fuming girlfriend, Katara, who was storming into his bedroom. He was spending (he suspected) a year before they went off to college at Katara's house since his father seemed in a worse mood than ever, and Katara's father agreed if they stayed in separate rooms. During this time, Zuko took Hakoda's advice to "make yourself at home," and soon, he began to bring his stuff over and left a few things in his duffel bag for when Ozai looked and acted as if he'd burn Zuko's face again. He had even brought things for his stay at Katara's house (Sokka was living at his college campus now) such as some clothes, a toothbrush, floss, and his laptop. Katara once joked that Zuko lived more at her house than at his own, which prompted Hakoda to offer Zuko a room in the basement. He didn't pay rent, and he was grateful for their kindness to let him stay over.

Today, Zuko had finished his homework and had decided to check his Facebook until Katara got back from swim practice. He was still at it when Katara got home and heard footsteps retreating into a room and slamming the door. He suspected that Hakoda didn't want to deal with the blowouts they had every other day.

"Katara..." he hissed. "Please."

"I just wanted to spend a nice night with you to hang out, but no, you decide to play with your God-damned Facebooking!"

"_Facebooking_, Katara? Is that even a real verb?"

"Whatever! Look, I do not blow up about every little thing, but can you please stop using that stupid site long enough for us to actually talk?" Katara approached him, winding her arms around his neck. "You're just addicted to that thing since Toph made you get an account. I don't have a Facebook, and I'm perfectly happy with my life not being controlled by a website that updates you every few seconds that someone _Liked _something or been someplace or just wanted to spew out a random comment! Honestly, do I have to have a Facebook for us to communicate?"

"Look, Katara, I - damn! My Farmville crops just withered! My strawberries are dying - " he almost was immobilized at her stormy face suddenly glowering at his.

"See! You can't even go a day without checking your damn Farmville, or else your plants will start to die. Is it really that important? What if _I _started to die? Would you even care, or would you be checking on your - " she peeked at his screen, while Zuko scrunched down in his seat to avoid her blazing look. "Um, watermelon and such?"

"Of course I'd care if you were _dying_, Katara." he said softly, turning his head to look her in the eye again. "I always lo - " An alert popped up that _Jin Haiyasaki wants to be friends._

"Is that JIN?" Katara looked close to strangling him now as she looked at the smiling portrait of Jin at Zuko's birthday party.

"Jin?" He weakly replied. _Damn Facebook._

"You know, your ex-girlfriend? The one you are actually on good terms with? The one who still doesn't get that we're dating? Yes, that Jin!"

"It is that Jin," he answered, moving his mouse to click on the acceptance button. Katara stopped his hand. "What are you doing?"

"Friending Jin."

"Are you kidding? I - " Zuko clicked the button, and Katara just about swore at him.

It got worse when Jin's chat box peeped up and she wrote _Hi, Zuko! How are you?_

_Good, _he had managed to type before another notification popped up, stating that Haru had commented on his Wall.

"Oh, for the love of - " Katara groaned angrily. "Doesn't Haru have anything better to do?"

"No, and neither do most of my friends on Facebook." Zuko showed the bulging list of people who were available to chat and the number of notifications that were popping up.

"So no one is doing something constructive with their time? They're all on Facebook?"

"Yes."

Zuko's one word sent Katara over the edge.

"Do you know all of these people could be doing something useful? Like studying, or reading a novel, or writing, or painting, or drawing, or practicing their musical instruments, or planning events to hang out at the movies or something, or learning to do something new, or - " Katara shrieked when Zuko, in one motion, logged off with one hand and slammed his laptop screen down, his legs lunging at her. He collided with her on his bed with the crisp, neat sheets and bed covers and kissed her deeply.

"Oh!" She gasped and shuddered as his mouth found her neck and began to nibble at it like a hungry mouse eating cheese. "Zuko!"

He propped himself up on one arm, stopping briefly at the pursuit of her collarbone, his mouth still breathing warm breaths of air on her sensitive flesh. "Yes?"

"You can't distract me with just - oh!" She almost swooned as he sucked on her skin, a hand reaching down to cradle her head and roam his fingers to stroke the wavy tresses of brown hair. She soon noticed that her baby blue shirt was gone and tossed carelessly on the cemented floor, and Katara barely remembered to breathe as Zuko unfastened her bra and claim one of her breasts like a fussing infant.

"Mhm...Zuko...st - " Her boyfriend either didn't her her soft moans or ignored her, but diligently began to trace and knead her chest like an explorer carefully going over each line and color of the map, occasionally paying attention to special areas. Zuko did this, licking her slowly, agonizingly with his tongue or touching her lightly with his rough fingertips. "Any objections?"

"N-harder!" She gasped as Zuko clutched her hands that were digging into his shoulders and helped her pull his shirt off. His husky voice that made Katara's body melt like heated chocolate purred, "Good."

He flipped her so she was on top as Katara traced lines and swirls around his muscled chest and down to his abs.

"What objections do you have about Facebook?"

This seemed like an odd question to ask when her belly was growing warmer and warmer, and when Zuko was lying beneath her and rubbing her sides, but Katara answered. "You're just on that damn thing all the time." She kissed and nuzzled him much as he did to her, and Zuko sat up to kiss her again. "I just have a lot of alerts, you see. I can't turn them off, though I can halt the email notifications if you want."

"O-ok-ay!" Katara shrieked with laughter as Zuko tickled her sides, squirming wildly on Zuko's bed. The sheets and comforter began to rumple. "But I! don't understand why - Zu! You're on it all the time?"

He rolled her over again and pull off her blue school sweatpants, while she was unbuckling his belt and and unfastening the offending obstacles that kept his pants up. Zuko gently stroked her under her panties, and Katara's eyes rolled back as if she was fainting. He rubbed himself against the sheets while he answered. "It's very addicting..." Katara closed her eyes as one of his fingers slid in and probed around in the hidden darkness. "You can't stop checking alerts - " Her body was on fire when his other hand went to her breasts again. "And...I suppose some thing are better than updating your status or chatting or fixing your profile or checking on your games or..." he paused, mockingly stopping his ministrations. "What else is more important, hm?"

"_Zuko_," she hissed angrily.

"I still can't think of anything..."

"_Zuko!"_

"There's got to be _something_...I just can't - Katara!"

Zuko jolted as if he had received an electric shock and saw that Katara was latched onto his hardness, had gotten his boxers off, suckling. She was tracing him slowly and thoughtfully as Zuko bucked and rolled beneath her like a fighting crocodile. He felt warmth and wetness and saw only blurred outlines as the world began to constrict at the blue-eyed girl's attention.

"Don't tease me," she hissed.

"Katara!" he gaped. "Stop, I'm going to - "

"Already, hm? You're quick, aren't you?" She rolled them both over on their sides, and Zuko kissed her forehead before he thrust in.

They both cried out in delight and were about to rock back and forth when Sokka burst through the door.

"Hey, can I just borrow - _HOLY CANNOLIS!"_


	4. Chapter 4 Secret

**ZUTARA WEEK 2011**

**DAY FOUR: SECRET**

_Tui, La, and every spirit, curse them!_ Katara thought as she reached for her new cooking pan she had gotten with Toph's scamming money, then pulled back. She shuddered as she willed herself to touch the cookingware when it started to jump at her.

_"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" _she screamed fearfully, before realizing that it was only threatening to leap at her face or her hair. _Damn things!_

"Katara, what's wrong?" Aang rushed over to her immediately, so fast that she wondered if he had been watching her. "What happened?"

"Nothing!" she laughed nervously. "I just...burnt myself. On the cooking fire." Aang began to look at her hands and arms to see where she had "hurt" herself, but she quickly added, "I healed myself, don't worry!"

"Oh," Aang replied, looking almost doe-eyed. "Do you want me to help with dinner - "

"Twinketoes! I'm still waiting for you to come over here so we can do a training game!"

"Aw, man..." Aang winced and sunk himself quickly into the ground he was standing on, only to be shoved out by Toph on the other side of the Ember Island courtyard.

Smiling a little at Aang's antics, she began to use the spark rocks to start up the fire when she realized the offending thing was _still _on her pan!

_It's just a bug. A little bug. With six legs. And can jump really high. And twice jumped into either my mouth or my hair. Oh..._

"If you wanted me to start the fire, you could have just asked." Katara forgot her fright as she looked up at the smirking intruder.

_A bug, or Zuko? _she thought for about a second about what to deal with first. _Zuko. _

"I don't need your help!" the Waterbender snapped angrily, more at herself than at him. She trusted the Firebender, but not fully, and Zuko seemed to sense this. He teased her instead of asking her for penance, and Katara rather enjoyed it, but not today.

"Then, should I not tell you that your skirt is on fire?"

Katara yelped as she splashed the small fire just beginning to spread with the water from her water skin. Zuko was looking at her, amused, when he noticed something. "Hey, Katara, are you really going to fry us up a spider-hopper?"

"Oh! No!" she almost gasped as it crawled onto the handle, almost whimpering as it twitched its legs again.

Zuko stared at her for a moment, curiously and thoughtfully. "Are you...afraid of them?"

"Of course not, I - _oh my spirits, it's going to jump!"_

The Firebender glanced at her and tilted his head slightly as if to say _Yes. _She scowled at him, crossing her arms almost protectively under her chest. "So what? Lots of people are probably scared of them."

"I never guessed you, of all people." he answered. "You've tangled with pirates, fought many battles with Azula and me, took on Combustion Man, can keep this whole camp from running into the ground, got yourself arrested by the Fire Nation on purpose so you could rescue Haru, and many more things - yet you're afraid of a _bug_." Katara scowled angrily at the way he put it, and to her surprise, Zuko had scooped it up in cupped hands.

"Why are you afraid of this?" Zuko answered as the spider-hopper stood still in his palms. "It is very useful - it kills bugs, even the poisonous ones. It is, in reality, a gentle creature. My cousin used to keep one as a pet. They are very interesting looking."

"It's just..." Katara trailed off at the sight of the Fire Prince tamely letting the spider-hopper jump up his arm. "so _weird_. It's so _ugly_...it has those creepy hairy legs that jump really high and that ugly face - " She paused as Zuko ducked his head.

"You are saying, because this creature is ugly, you hate it?" Zuko asked in a cool tone as it nestled in his mop of black hair.

"No," Katara answered, startled. "I meant I'm afraid of it because it hates me! It jumps all around me like it wants to scare me, so I have to watch it...it...all those legs...it's hard to explain."

"I think I can." The spider-hopper was grasped by a gentle scoop of the palm and offered to Katara. She shook her head, but Zuko put both of her hands out and quickly dropped the spider-hopper in. She squealed in fright, and the spider-hopper retreated back to Zuko. He sighed, but continued his explanation. "You're afraid of what it could do, and you have decided to watch it because it had done something horrible to you."

"Yes! It once jumped into my mouth, and..." Katara frowned; this situation...Zuko seemed to understand it in just a few minutes! But, how? Was he a phobia psychologist in secret? She mentally snickered at the thought of Zuko in "Wang Fire's" beard, but couldn't imagine Zuko speaking in a corny accent.

"Can you learn to trust it again?" Zuko broke through her thoughts, holding out the spider-hopper again.

"What if it leaps into my mouth again or - "

"I assure you it won't do that. They only lunge at predators or if they have a purpose. You might have looked like a fierce enemy that might eat them. Just be calm."

She nodded hesitantly, and he gently placed it in her hands. Katara shuddered at the feeling of Zuko's fingers touching hers, but dismissed it as the wriggling of the bug.

As she held it in her hands, she noticed each line and each feature, silently agreeing with Zuko that it was an interesting-looking insect. It wasn't ugly, she concluded. It was just different, and she had said it was ugly because she hated it so much...

Zuko watched the Waterbender examine the spider-hopper, then held his breath when the bug began to jump. Katara stood still, mouth tightly closed, and the spider-hopper bounced lightly up her arm and landed on her shoulder. Katara breathed in relief as it kept moving without harming her. He smiled. "Is your fear cured?"

"I suppose." Katara nodded. "It may take a while, but this helped. Thank you, Zuko."

Zuko's face warmed at his name, not a scathing nickname or a swear word, but his own name, coming from Katara's lips. He felt a stirring in his chest, a warm kind of feeling, at her soft thanks. Ridiculous, he decided. It wasn't as if...

_Stupid, _he chastised himself in his head. Thinking that made him feel only slightly better.

"You've helped me with my secret fear," Katara continued. "What is yours?"

Zuko straightened up, startled. "No! I mean, I don't think you could help!"

"I didn't think you could help me, but you did."

"That's different."

"Oh?" Katara quirked her brow at him, and he fought the urge to look away. She only smiled, walked up with the spider-hopper still on her shoulder, and kissed him slightly on the cheek. "Perhaps you'll tell me one day?"

"Perhaps" was all he could say, and she turned back to the cooking pots with a flush on her face.


	5. Chapter 5 Awkward

**ZUTARA WEEK 2011**

**DAY FIVE: AWKWARD**

Uncle Iroh was going to pay for this, Zuko vowed as he stopped in the middle of handing a tea cup to a customer at the girl cheerfully steeping leaves in the kitchen. He watched as her brown hair pulled back in a messy ponytail swung as she laughed at Uncle's joke. Zuko thought about hiding, but the new tea brewer shoved a tray into his hands and smiled up at him with that honest, earnest look. He flushed uncomfortably and nearly stumbled as he tried to back out as fast as he could.

His other friends were also helping out Iroh at his newly re-established Jasmine Dragon tea shop, and Uncle decided that he needed a new helper to brew the teas when Zuko wasn't there.

Zuko, as the newly appointed Fire Lord, had already (he suspected) had twice the blood pressure and ten times the stress. That's why Uncle had invited the Gaang over to Ba Sing Se to help reopen his tea shop. Unfortunately, it did not go as planned when someone walked through the door.

* * *

><p>"Hi, I'm here about this job offering as brewer, and I was wondering—Lee!"<p>

Zuko stayed under the table he was polishing and closed his eyes as the Gaang began to exchange snickers and looks. Please Agni, he prayed. Let your hand turn her head away.

Instead, Jin started to walk in a very fast pace over to him, and he cursed Agni up and down.

"Lee?" she bent down to look at him under the wooden table."

Jin! I—" He started to jump up, but banged his head badly on the hard surface.

"Are you alright?" Jin asked in concerned tones as she reached to reach Zuko's head, but he once again jumped away. This accomplished nothing, for he bashed his head on the table. By then, Sokka was snickering, Toph was full-blown laughing, Aang looked concerned but a little amused, Uncle looked torn between helping his nephew or leaving him to figure this situation out, and Katara? Katara was, to his annoyance, shrieking with laughter like a wild hogmonkey. He crawled (carefully) to salvage what little dignity he had left and shook Jin's hand. "Hey, Jin."

"Lee, I haven't seen you since..." she blushed a soft pink, and Zuko scratched the neck of his neck nervously.

"Since when, Zuko?" Katara sneered. "Did you guys, you know..."

"No!" Zuko snapped at Katata's smirking face. She was more irritable than she had been when at the Fire Palace, and he was sick of it. "We went on a date. And kissed." He saw Uncle give him a wink, and he glared at him.

"Yes, and he lit the lanterns when they weren't lit that night. He was so swee—wait, did she call you Zuko? FIRELORD Zuko?" She looked startled and looked as if she was mortified beyond belief at her casual attitude towards him.

"Erm, yeah..." It didn't help when Toph made a fake trumpeting sound, and Sokka said in his "upper-crust" accent, "Lady Jin, permit us to introduce you to Fire Lord Zuko" He paused when Jin's cheeks turned as bright pink of Ty Lee's typical clothes.

"It is customary to bow at this time." Toph joked, but Jin began to curtsy (since she did not know the bows of the Fire Nation and hesitated to kowtow in front of all these people) until Zuko stopped her in the middle of lifting her skirt up above her ankles. Even though he had seen much more, (Agni, how he never could get Katara in her bindings outside of his head) he was rather enchanted by her pale, skinny ankles and wondered why women never showed their ankles, always keeping them con—

"Zuko, have you lost something?" Katara said loudly, and Zuko was forced to pretend he had dropped "something" in order not to tell what was wrong with him. Jin had rushed off after talking with Iroh and handing over her application, and Zuko wanted to join her.

* * *

><p>Iroh has suggested that Zuko needed fresh air and sent him to buy some things at the market when Jin was, coincidentally, also sent to buy the same supplies he was buying. During break time. A ways from the tea shop. Alone. Zuko felt...awkward. So very awkward.<p>

"So, L—Zuko." she said shyly. "Um, how are you?"

"Fine, I suppose." You?

"Hm...that's good. I'm fine, also. What are you doing here?"

"Buying stuff from Uncle."

"Me too."

They both checked the shopping lists and blushed again at Iroh's plan.

"So...the weather looks nice."

"Yeah, but I think those clouds mean rain."

"You're right, Jin. It will rain."

"Yes..."

A pause ensured as Zuko pretended to look at the jasmine tea leaves while Jin fumbled with her basket.

"So."

"So?"

"I haven't seen you in a while. How about we catch up? Unless you have plans. Or a girlfriend. Is Katar- your girlfriend?"

"What? No...Mai was. But we broke up before I came here. It was very quiet so there wouldn't be much gossip. We both don't want that. I haven't even told my friends."

"I'm sorry, L—Zuko. Is it too soon?"

"No, it's fine. Tonight, at five?"

"Okay. Yes."

They walked together from the market, but stood a few inches away from each other.

* * *

><p>Zuko found himself, like a nightmare, sitting with Jin at the same outdoor restaurant... with Katara and Aang behind him. Jin had worn her hair in the two pigtails, which Zuko preferred over the ponytail, for she looked like just Jin than Jin on a Date. She wore a pretty plain Earth Kingdom dress with one piping of a sprig of jasmine flowers, and her newly pierced ears held small false silver hoops. He himself wore his Fire Nation fancy clothes, a red tunic over black pants, and his hair was loose. They were ordering their appetizers when Katara had said loudly, "Table for two, please."<p>

"Zuko had concealed a gasp when Aang and Katara had taken the seat next to him. He found it odd that Aang didn't exchange a hello and was more disturbed that Katara and Aang were dressed in fancy clothes. As if they were on a date. He noticed Katara wore a rose in her hair and admired how she had skillfully had woven it into a small braid. She was wearing a beautiful blue dress with white sashes and lowered his head when she glanced at him.

Why at this restaurant? Why now?

Jin had taken a small bite of her stuffed dumpling (probably remembering his unflattering comment about her appetite on the last date, he had thought guiltily) and asked after she swallowed. "So? Zuko? Um...how do you like these?"

"They are good. What about you? Do you like them?"

"Yes. I've never had these before.

"Hm...well, they're...good."

"...Right."

What annoyed Zuko was that Katara and Aang seemed to be chatting animately, so he strived to day something interesting before they ordered their first course. Unfortunately, the waiter came up and refilled their fruit drinks and asked their order before Zuko could clear his throat. Zuko ordered the house noodles, and Jin requested the hot and sour soup. The waiter soon came back to give them their food and take Katara and Aang's order.

"This soup is good. I like spicy food."

"Me too. You should come to the Fire Nation. We have a lot of...spices."

"Maybe...say, these noodles are good!"

"Yeah, they're very nice. I like them."

"Mmm...so can you really juggle now?"

"No, I never could."

"I can try; I can do it with two balls."

"Okay." Zuko handed her two tea cups, and Jin began to juggle with ease. Some of the patrons began to clap, and one rowdy one threw Jin a teapot—with hot water. Jin was undaunted as she concentrated on juggling, but then, suddenly, the teapot exploded and shattered.

Jin shrieked in pain as a rain of porcelain and water came crashing down on her, and Zuko gasped as a few shards cut him and some of the water plopped on his head.

Apologizing to the waiter, Zuko paid for the teapot (he had managed to catch the cups) and asked for napkins and a medical kit. The waiter rushed off, and Zuko and Jin dried themselves off, Jin wincing at the tea stain on her skirt. Zuko dabbed some alcohol on Jin's cuts and attended to his own as Jin asked for the bill. They did not get dessert.

* * *

><p>"I'm sorry, Jin." Zuko apologized.<p>

"It's alright; it wasn't so bad. Just awkward."

"Yeah..."

"Look," Jin sighed as she sat on the fountain's edge. "I'm sorry if I tried to force you, and for last time. Maybe I was being too hasty. And..." She hesitated. "Zuko, I think Katara likes you."

"Likes me?"

"Well, yeah." she smiled a little. "You didn't see her, but I did. She wasn't having good time with Aang, and he seemed like he was faking having fun, too." She looked at him as if he got it, and her lips twitched when Zuko simply was dumbfounded. Shaking her head, Jin laughed. "It was a fake date, silly! And she kept sneaking you these looks, and blushing, and glaring a little at me. I wouldn't be surprised if she caused the teapot to break!"

"She did?" Zuko snarled. "That wasn't nice at all!"

"I think it was kind of cute." Noticing his confused face, Jin continued. "I mean, not the broken shards part or the boiling water. I mean the jealous part. She likes you. If you didn't tell her that you broke up with Mai, then...she might be...she might love you. And you like her too. You were sneaking glances at her all evening and seemed bothered by them having 'a good time.'" Zuko pondered this, remembering Kaatata's coldness towards Mai, her rough attitude, and her loud voice during his date. "Oh." He slid a hand to touch Jin's own. "What now?"

"For starters, we should end our date here. I like you, Zuko, but I don't know you very well. And...maybe you can take Katara out tomorrow."

"Okay," Zuko muttered. "I'm sorry about tonight. Do you want me to walk you home?" Jin said a quiet no and cast a glance in one of the alleys. "I think you should talk to Katara."

She waved good-bye and walked away, while Zuko went to confront Katara.


	6. Chapter 6 Legendary

**Based slightly off _The Last Airbender: Legend of Korra, _except in the present time. And without Korra, Bolin, or Mako. Sorry!**

**ZUTARA WEEK 2011**

**DAY SIX: LEGENDARY **

"When the moon turns full, hell unleashes!" Katara had joked with Toph and Suki after their scary movie marathon. Now, walking around the block in her pajamas for a dare with the full moon gazing upon her didn't thrill her. She shuddered as a cold wind brushed her cheek.

_I shouldn't even be out; it's past curfew._ The secret Waterbender prayed that none of the city's patrol officers were doing rounds here tonight.

The city used to be a bender haven, until Oman and his Anti-benders came, destroying the security and peaceful life. Chi-blockers were among everyone, and no more joy and celebrations were held of first bending an element. Katara was lucky to be born in a time where the Resistance was more skillful than ever, so her bending test that she had taken at school came back negative, courtesy of constant hacking of the files. She knew one bender, Haru, who had gotten caught rescuing an old man from a landslide and taken away. No one knew what happened, exactly, to the benders, for the facility in which they were kept was the ultimate fortress. The resistance had only begun to chip away at its defenses, and Katara had learned from her father that gruesome torturing and experiments were held. Worst of all, the bender's family were taken in and forcibly tortured to see if they were hiding more benders. Most died in that awful building Katara had passed by on her way to school.

Some people, like her best friend Aang and his guardian with their sky bison and lemur, had fled to secret sanctuaries their own people only knew about. Most people stayed at home and pretended to live a normal life, like Toph, whose rich family protected her and the fact that she was "a helpless blind little girl." Brave souls risked their lives to be part of the Resistance, like Katara's older brother, Sokka. He himself was not a bender, but he was a weapons master, particularly with his boomerang and sword, and a genius with machinery. Katara was torn between helping to fight for their city or staying home and being safe, hiding her bending. If one of the Resistance was caught, terrible doom befell their family, friends, and themselves. That was why Sokka had invented a pill that instantly caused death to the user and given to all Resistance members and their close relations, and why all the members wore masks that had built-in voice changers. They all talked in code, too.

Katara was on the end of her route when she heard a piercing yell of "Hey, you!" She jumped, but only saw the officer glaring at a young man with dark hair. She gasped when she recognized Zuko, a guy who went to her school. They were once partners for hand-to-hand combat, and he had beaten her after kicking her hard in the ribs. He was fast, brooding, alone, strong, and tough, which were qualities Katara admired privately. He had, as Suki had put it, "taken to her" and was one of her friends. He always stared at her and tried to hold her, but Katara told herself she wasn't ready for their friendship to turn into...that. She couldn't lie to Zuko if they got married, and she was sure he wouldn't lightly brush off her bending.

But, what was he doing out so late? Katara decided to hide in one of the alleyways.

"You are breaking, curfew, young man! And we know you're in the Resistance..." the guard trailed off before making a grab at him, but Zuko leapt away.

"I am not part of that Resistance!"

"You are the Blue Spirit! One of our officers, Zhao, put enough evidence together to show that you are who you say you aren't! You'll have to come with me. Luckily, you live alone, so only you will be punished!"

Katara didn't know what to do. Zuko was a talented fighter, but one pressure point to the neck, and Zuko was gone.

_They would kill him and me, too, if I tried to help,_ she tried to reason. She'd only put herself in danger, but what would Sokka do? _He'd help him._ But...what should she do? She didn't have any weapons and hand-to-hand was her worst fighting technique. The only thing left was Waterbending, and that was as a last resort. Zuko suddenly made her decision to stay put when he skillfully evaded the officer and fought him. It was a close fight, but the officer was calling for back-up. She didn't know if Zuko could handle reinforcements.

When fire arced through the sky and shattered the armor of a dozen Anti-benders, she gasped. Zuko...was a Firebender? He fought with fire, fire that was easily controlled and took out many of his opponents, fire that lit up the night, fire that raged and burned, fire that was beautiful to look at. She stood, entranced, at Zuko almost laughing as a dozen more came. He was a match for them -

But then, some were on the roof! He didn't notice, but Katara did. They were going to shoot him!

_No! _She mentally whispered, and a flood of wine burst out of a nearby store that sold spirits and knocked them off the roof. Everyone stood still, and Zuko looked on in wonder as the wine froze the sharp-shooters onto the ground. Katara sighed, shattered a few more wine bottles to slash and crash against the police, and waited for Zuko to strike. He took advantage of the wine and simply let fire consume the soaking villains, but then, a burst of darts headed towards him from...Oman. Himself!

Katara drew up an ice wall, which the darts pinged off of, and took up a stance from her hiding place as the leader of the city approached Zuko.

"You fight well, Zuko, but you're causing top much trouble. Who knew you could bend both fire and water...proficiently?"

"I can only fight with fire." Zuko answered. "You won't take me alive."

"We'll see."

Even though Oman was not a bender, he controlled the battlefield with various weapons. Zuko, who was already tired from fighting off most of the Anti-benders, was struggling. Oman saw his chance and shot Zuko in the chest with a gun. Katara almost screamed and had to muffle her noise into a low whine as he approached the fallen warrior.

_Zuko! Zuko!_

"Maybe I should just kill you now and save us a lot of trouble. Or maybe kill you again and again, then heal you for more torturing. What do you think?" The corrupted leader laughed roughly as he kicked Zuko in the ribs. Zuko gasped sharply, and Katara was alarmed to hear a few ribs crack and the sight of the lost blood was sickening. She took a deep breath for courage and threw Oman back with a wave of wine, surprising him.

"Leave him alone!" Katara screamed, rushing over to Zuko and pressing wine-wreathed hands on his chest. The healing process began as Zuko whispered harshly, "Katara! What are you doing?"

"Please don't move!" Katara, with one hand, froze Oman to the ground and bound his legs and arms. It would take a while for him to break out, but she tensed in preparation for battle. "I'm healing you. I'm a Waterbender."

"I know." She had no time to gasp, but Zuko stroked her cheek with a bloody hand and whispered so Oman couldn't hear. "I know because Sokka told me to guard you. He is worried for you."

"I didn't know...were you friends with me because of that?"

"At first, but I grew to l - " Zuko opened his mouth in a gasp of silent pain. "Katara, you can join the Resistance."

"I'm too young! Sokka's told me - "

"You are in danger, and I'm one of the leaders. I can make an exception." Zuko smiled at her when she finished closing up the wound. Gunshot wounds were tricky, but with Bloodbending, she could carefully dislodge the bullet and stop the bleeding. She was worried about him, but Zuko stood anyway and took her hand.

"Now, I'm going make a call. I'm sending for one of the Earthbenders that help us transport to our underground hiding place." Zuko took out a phone different from the one he used at school and hissed, "This is Blue Spirit. Took the donkey out and burned the trash. Please send me and our new comrade to church. Follow these coordinates." He pressed a button and smiled at Katara as he closed the phone. "That is code."

"What's it mean?"

"Took Oman out, fought the Anti-benders with fire, and send us to our hiding place, sanctuary. The last part was someone else's idea from _The Hunchback of Notre Dame. _You know, they claimed sanctuary in the cathedral." Zuko chuckled. "The people who might hack this communication might think we're very religious for going to church this late."

Katara laughed too, and they were both swallowed up by the earth.

* * *

><p>Zuko and Katara worked as a team and were legendary for helping the Resistance. Katara took up the guise of the Painted Lady and an honorary young fighter and healer. Her skills grew stronger, and so did her relationship with Zuko. He had proposed to her several times before she finally said yes.<p>

When Aang joined, for his guardian had died to send him to safety, they had realized he was the Avatar and trained him. Toph and Suki had also joined, and the whole team brought down Oman's empire with Zuko and Katara as the leaders. Aang was elected to rule the city, and it became one of the most peaceful strongholds in the world. No one could even step inside the walls with harmful intentions without being caught.

Zuko still told the story of his rescue from death, much to the embarrassment of Katara, and that was told so many times that Suki decided to write it down, in which it became published and was read nightly by Zuko and Katara's daughter.

Toph dismissed the ending of the story as cliche, but Zuko and Katara couldn't be more happier with how it ended.


	7. Chapter 7 Caught

**Well, looks like Zutara Week is winding down...I always love this time of year. Think, Zutara Week is the most popular of the shipping weeks! Nothing will keep us down, no matter how many canon couples nor Bryke! WE ARE ZUTARIANS!**

**(Sorry, had a Spartan moment for a couple minutes. Carry on)**

**ZUTARA WEEK 2011**

**DAY SEVEN: CAUGHT**

The boy brushed his shaggy dark hair out of his eyes as he quickly hid behind one of the palace pillars as the young Ambassador, brown hair swaying behind her and blue eyes focused on the turtleduck pond, passed right by him. The young lord breathed a sigh of relief, for the girl did not notice him lurking behind his hiding place. He watched as she began to bend the water into several icicles and exclaiming every time she hit one of her targets, then created a spinning wave to knock back an invisible opponent. Even thought the Hundred Year War had ended many years ago, everyone was still on guard and honed their bending or fighting skills. He knew the girl had also been encouraged to heal, since healers usually turned the tide of the battle when many were wounded, and was inwardly pleased that the girl had graduated at the top of her class when she went back to the North Pole.

The young man cursed himself many times as he ducked behind the pillar yet again as her water whip sailed just over him. Why couldn't he just get up the nerve to talk to her? He was Fire Nation Royalty, for Agni's sake! He should not be hiding behind a pillar, tree, bush, fountain, a box, a person, or a barrel whenever she passed by! Damn that Waterbending girl, with her pretty eyes and dark hair and smooth skin and teasing manner! What made her make him feel like a common peasant before a queen? He felt giddy since she and her boyfriend broke up months ago, but as soon as she visited the Palace for her duties, he found himself sputtering, stuttering, tripping, and generally acting like a drugged mental patient around her! He growled in frustration and punched the pillar, unintentionally bending streams of flames heading for his friend. He started to run forward, but she skillfully blocked the attack with a gush of water from the pond.

"Who's there?" The girl whipped around and shouted. "This better not be an assassin again! Remember that I am the Princess of the Water Tribe and a Waterbending Master! Come out if you want to fight!"

He gulped as she peered around with her ever-watchful eyes. _Damn! Shit! Crap! Fuck! Hell!_ The royal swore with all his might in his head, ignoring the mental look of his mother glaring at him, saying, "You should not cuss like a pirate, especially—"

His thoughts were interrupted as a water whip grasped his ankle and threw him to the ground. He winced as his forehead collided with a root of a tree. _Damn._

Her eyes widened, and she dropped her guard, hurrying over to turn him over. "Are you okay? I'm so sorry! Why did you sneak up on me like that?" she scolded, though gently smoothing a healing water glove over his bruise.

"I-I'm fine." he answered to her first question. "I, uh, was wondering..." He, in vain, searched for a witty and observant comment when his request for a lunch at a popular restaurant left him wobbling over a cliff. "Uh, did you see Admiral Wang's face when he tasted the stewed sea prunes...haha..." He blanched over his friend's angry face. Needless to say he got his sense of humor from his father. _Oops._

"Stewed sea prunes," she said sternly, "are a traditional and delicious Water Tribe delicacy that, obviously, your shriveled-up taste buds cannot understand."

"They are a bit bland—"

"They are not! And for your information, you didn't think I saw your look! I helped make those sea prunes!"

_Shit._

"You complete uncultured, selfish, idiotic—"

And he kissed her, with the added bonus of silencing her rant about him, Fire Nation dishes, and general name calling to the two latter topics.

"Iraku, your instructor said that your ten minutes late for—" Fire Lord Zuko stopped in the middle of his scolding to gape at his first-born son kissing the Ambassador-in-training, Dashia, in the garden. They immediately broke apart, flushing a shade of red that matched Iraku's robes perfectly.

Zuko pointed an accusing finger at his son, who seemed torn between running from his father or staying to kiss Dashia. "You-you—"

A chiming laugh broke the awkward silence as Zuko's wife, Katara, strolled into the garden.

"Honestly, Fire Lord, Iraku is sixteen and is entitled to kiss a girl, especially his best friend who he's been looking at for years," Katara smiled at her son. "I'm sorry to interrupt, but I do believe your Firebending instructor, Master Jeong Jeong, is still waiting for you. He's pretty angry, but if you've mastered the eighty-fifth technique, you should be okay. Now, run along, you can talk before dinner."

Iraku happily fled the scene, while Dashia muttered something about being late for a meeting and crashed through the hedge. Katara laughed again at her husband's shocked look.

"They're growing up fast, aren't they?" she asked fondly. "Pretty soon Hurai will kiss his own girl, and Akita will be bringing home a boy to dinner."

"Katara, she's six!" Zuko said frantically. "And Hurai is ten, and dear Agni, what if Dashia and Iraku have—"

She pressed her cool fingers to his lips. "Shh, Fire Lord Zuko. I was teasing. Akita thinks boys are icky, and Hurai is still avoiding girls after 'the talk.' And Iraku will not want to have sex with Dashia until they are married, for the Water Tribes wait until marriage, and he seems like he will wait for her, as you did for me."

Zuko sighed. "I'll miss our kids. I miss the anticipation of firsts, you with a big round belly with your crazy food cravings and mood swings, the crying, bedtime stories, teaching, playing, diapers—wait, not those..."

Katara smiled at Zuko. "Me too."

* * *

><p>Iraku had recovered from the tongue lashing of his sifu and just had asked Dashia, hiding in the library, to come and talk with him. She agreed, and he decided to take her to one of the storerooms. Maybe he'd show her that cheese she liked so much; he'd ordered an extra shipment for her (his father wasn't too pleased about that when he learned Iraku had stolen his seal). She was seen sometimes with a book in his hands in the turtleduck garden, snacking on some bread with a slap of cheese and a waterskin of the fruit juice from the kitchen.<p>

Almost skipping with joy and elation, he offered Dashia his arm when he reached the storeroom. She smiled as he opened the door, saying, "It's nice and cool here, and no one will disturb us..."

His voice trailed off at this odd grunting noise. There were sighs and moans, and his ears turned red. Hiding lovers usually were found in closets, behind a tree, in a garden, in corridors, and private spots, but...who were they? Only the kitchen staff and the Royal Family had access to the storerooms!

When he saw Dashia's embarrassed face, something snapped. Thanks to his dad, Dashia had hidden in the library for two hours! Now, a bunch of nameless lovers were ruining the carefully executed plan! The logical way was to laugh it off and find another storeroom, but Iraku wanted for his plan to go his way. (It was a trait argued often by his parents) He stormed right into the dark and dramatically flipped on the light, yelling, "Get out of here, you—"

His eyes widened at the sight of his bare-chested father, about to take off his pants, that were pooling around his ankles, dipping his mother, who was equally naked with a toned leg thrown over his hip. They looked up from kissing, and everyone blushed or looked away. Dashia was muttering apologies and flaming red, Zuko looked mortified, Katara looked surprised and was trying to reach for her robe (they were still tangled together out of sheer shock), and Iraku? Iraku covered his eyes and said in a strained tone, "You know what? Never mind!" Dragging poor Dashia along with him, he flipped off the light and decided to make a break for it.

* * *

><p>Zuko was still shell-shocked as he hurriedly began to adjust his pants and pull on his robe. It wasn't the first time Iraku had caught them (the first was when he was five and had heard strange noises coming from their room and decided to do a 'monster hunt.' Katara had kindly given him The Talk when Zuko was almost comatose), nor the second. It was the first, however, when Iraku had seen them fully naked. He was sure Iraku and Dashia would be scarred for life.<p>

Katara laughed as she finished tying her robe. "Well, now, they better get used to it if Dashia's going to be living in the palace."

"Do you mean that Iraku would marry...?"

"Why, yes. Why not?"

Zuko laughed and kissed his wife. "I think I'm starting a new tradition."

"How?"

The Fire Lord gently leaned his forehead against his lady's and murmured, "Marrying a Waterbender."


End file.
